Introduction
We’ll Always Have Summer, written by Jenny Han as the final installment to her series, The Summer I Turned Pretty, was published in 2011 by Simon and Schuster publishing company. To be honest, I did not enjoy this installation of the series as much as I did its predecessors. You can find out why in the Thoughts section of this post - but know that it will contain spoilers for this book and the rest of the series. It was still a good book, but I personally find the first in this series, The Summer I Turned Pretty, to be the most enjoyable. If you have not had the chance to read this book or the previous two, The Summer I Turned Pretty and It’s Not Summer Without You, I would start there. If you don’t feel like reading the entire books, you can check out my previous reviews of both for a biased overview, but I do recommend reading the actual series. For a brief look at what to expect in this one, the Plot section will be spoiler free.
If you want to learn more about Jenny Han, follow her on her social media @jennyhan and check out her website https://www.jennyhan.com.
Plot
Belly’s dream of being a Fisher is finally coming true, but is it going to be everything she wished it would be, or is she making a life-altering mistake?
Thoughts
Like the previous book, Han’s writing style remains consistently breezy and easy-to-read, and she kept the use of multiple perspectives in this novel. However, in this one she notably exchanges Jeremiah’s point of view for Conrad’s and makes Conrad’s more prevalent throughout the book. The primary theme was also switched from the last two books. It was originally all about change - the changes that come with growing up, and those that happen when forced to move on from tragedy. This book focuses more on choices.
I want to start with what I liked about the book. I really enjoyed Conrad’s perspective, much more than I enjoyed Jeremiah’s. He was a relatively selfless character, and he tried to do what he thought was right, but he was also human and thus fallible. His relationship with Laurel was also one of my absolute favorites in the series as a whole, but having his insight in this book allowed it to shine through. While on the topic of Laurel, her reaction to Belly’s engagement was my favorite. She remained the strong-willed and logical woman we always knew, and while it was heartbreaking for Belly, her refusal to take part in something she believed was wrong only solidified her character, and her ultimate decision to support Belly showed that she will put her children over anything else. I actually liked Taylor’s character in this book far more than in the previous installments, and I felt for the first time that she was truly acting as Belly’s best friend. I felt that Belly’s willingness to forgive alongside her conflict between the Fisher brothers remained consistent with her character, I just wish that her conflict was prevalent in the first book to better set up the love triangle.
Now for what I didn’t like as much: the entire wedding plot, which was the majority of this book. I felt like the entirety of Jeremiah’s character was undermined by him cheating on Belly over spring break - something that I didn’t think for a second the Jere we had been reading about over the course of the series would do. Additionally, for marriage to be his solution when he suspected she was still in love with Conrad and vice versa was rushed and immature. The entire plot focused on this wedding, and I knew in the end that they wouldn’t go through with it because Belly and Conrad still loved each other, and it was blatantly obvious that Jere wasn’t right for her. I kept expecting for someone to come to their senses and call off the wedding, but it never happened, and the entire book save the last few chapters were leading up to a wedding that predictably didn’t happen anyway. Then there was a time jump to Conrad and Belly getting married years later after an extended separation, which would have been a good idea if it hadn’t been squished into the last couple of chapters.
Given my friend, Ciara, recommended this book series to me, I promised to send her live updates as I read it. I specifically texted her saying I could not get behind the plot, and then wrote in my notes for this review that I just couldn’t - try as I might - force myself to enjoy it. I spent most of the book annoyed because I felt the ending and resolution were predictable and yet weak due to the poor setup of the main conflict.
While the book had good elements to it, the flaws within the plot were too large for me to overlook, and for that reason, I rate this book a 5/10. I would read it again along with the rest of the series, but I do hope the upcoming Hulu tv show does it better.
The Show
At the time of writing this, only season one - book one - of the show has been released. Multiple plot points were changed and added to the tv show that weren’t included in the book, but I like them, and I feel like what was added allowed for the possibility of the love triangle to successfully take root. Something that a tv show adds regardless of the type of book is a deeper look into other characters outside of the scope of the narrator, which meant we got to see relationships between friends, siblings, parents, and various intergenerational pairs. There weren’t as many flashbacks as those events were more often than not moved to the present timeline, but many quotes from the book were spoken both by the characters and in Belly’s narration. The acting was fantastic and the soundtrack memorable, and I generally - so far - prefer the tv show to the books.
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